


Living Amongst the Dead

by HelloIExist



Category: Hatchetfield Universe - Team StarKid
Genre: F/M, Ghosts AU, Maybe multiple parts?, some descriptions of death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:00:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28668129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelloIExist/pseuds/HelloIExist
Summary: Every apartment in Paul and Emma's househunt has had problems, so when a dream home with only some fixes needed falls into their hands, they take it without anymore thought. But what they couldn't have anticipated is that the house is not fully theirs, and is still inhabited by ghosts of Hatchetfield residents long gone. And they'll do anything to get them out.-~-~-A BBC Ghosts AU! You don't have to have seen the show to read this!(Title credit to my friend Kellz)
Relationships: Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins
Comments: 23
Kudos: 31





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! The following is a BBC Ghosts AU, so several of the characters are dead and their methods of death discussed.  
> CW: mentions of - Witch trials/burnings, bullet wounds, arrows through the neck, beheading and general death

See, when Paul and Emma finally moved out of their one bedroom flat, they thought their problems were through. No more leaking faucets, no more gas leaks, no more terrifying potential of asbestos. They had looked for a place that would finally be a home to them but nowhere was. Every time they had looked for somewhere else it had also come with a similar set of drawbacks.

Apartment one, Emma had liked actually. It was close to the college so she wouldn’t have to try to get her driver’s licence yet again and had enough space in case of the very likely possibility that she’d get frustrated with Paul. But then it was too loud for him and they couldn’t agree before someone else bought it. Emma could admit that living next to a construction site was not her idea of serenity either. They then proceeded to have the opposite problem with apartment two. Though Emma resented the driving distance that came with being on the other side of town to the community college, she could appreciate the lack of noise that came with the crumbling unit block near the boat yard. They had almost bought it, until Paul had admitted that the eerie silence, only broken up by the water made him feel like a horror movie protagonist and they gave up on that plan too.

But it’d be unfair of Emma to say that every criticism levied at the apartments was Paul’s. She had choice words about some too. Apartment three was covered in mould, apartment six was too close to the theatre and apartment eight was teeming with cats, much to Emma’s chagrin considering it was next door to the Beanies building. They had been saying no to every apartment for months and were running out of options. Well, they had thought they’d run out of options until Emma got a strange call. That call had led them to a lawyer’s office where they were informed that a very, very, very distant relative of Emma’s had passed away and considering how much disowning and writing out of wills went on in her family, Emma was the only one left to take ownership of the house and land said relative lived on.

It hadn’t taken them a second glance at a photo of the house, better described as a mansion, to deny the offer to sell the house to a hotel chain. And before they knew it, it was theirs. And the young newlyweds were moving. At first it had seemed like a dream. Sure, the house was rough around the edges but that was nothing they couldn’t fix, it would just take a very long time for them to repair all of it. There were some strange happenings too like the lights flickering and the almost constant burning smell but, what would have ordinarily been dealbreakers in their house search ended up just as vague downsides. And only slight blockades to their plan of turning it into a hotel themselves. But that was only what they could actually see or smell. There was one other major downside.

-~-~-

“I say kill them.” Ethan grunted, pacing the room, the animal skins around his legs dragging on the floor, only to produce no noise. That was the issue when you were dead sadly.

“We can’t just kill someone; we should know not to do that better than anyone else.” Bill sighed, shifting slightly so the arrow through his neck didn’t accidentally poke him, though he couldn’t feel pain anymore. He was just trying to distract himself from the noise caused by all of the others.

“I’d rather kill them than let them takeover.” Lex raised an ash covered hand, rest of her arm hidden by an ash covered sleeve, permanent rubbings on her wrists from being tied to the stake.

“Quicker and easier than driving them off.” Howard shrugged, reclining back into the chair he was sat in. He still wore the majority of his regular formal, “political” attire from the day he had died though unfortunately he hadn’t been fully dressed, leaving him to carry the embarrassment of being pantsless forever.

“There’s always the possibility they’re like us and will remain here. What do you propose we do then?” Hidgens stood, addressing the group. He was the unofficial leader due to his former military role but when tensions were this high, no one would listen to him without saying their peace.

“Killing them is abhorrent, I shan’t let this occur!” Charlotte glared at Howard who just put up his hands in surrender, not at all phased. This only fuelled Charlotte’s frustration. The Edwardian ghost looked to the other’s who hadn’t spoken yet hoping at least one of them had a moral compass. Unfortunately, the next to speak didn’t.

“I suppose it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to have her- them, be with us forever?” Ted shrugged, bloodied hand still resting over the two-hundred-year-old bullet wound on his stomach.

“Good save.” John’s head remarked from where it had been dropped by his body earlier, the ruff managing to conceal the axe wound. It was a struggle when often no one could find his body, considering it had no ears with his head gone.

“Well! I wouldn’t mind them staying here either!” Melissa smiled from her seat beside Charlotte. She was lucky her dress, marking her as a noblewoman, concealed any possible physical clues to her death. “They could be new friends for us, no?”

“Hard to make friends who don’t see us.” Bill shrugged a bit, he only wanted what would be best for everyone there.

“Exactly why, you know, offing them on the chance we could see them again would be better for everybody.” Howard pushed his idea again, making several violent hand gestures as he went. Ethan nodded along, making several gestures of his own, many resembling wild animals or throwing rocks at things. Charlotte looked absolutely horrified by these plans.

“No, no, no! This is my house and if they’re here, they are undoubtedly my family! My great-great-great-great-great-great granddaughter just passed away, if this is one of her… spawn then killing her is out of the question!” Charlotte waved her hand towards a newly placed photo frame with an image of Paul and Emma in it. Lex smirked slightly, looking at Howard who, using all the energy he had managed to push the photo over. He was one of the only who could affect the mortal world with enough focus.

“Fine, it appears we’re taking it to a vote then, considering none of you are being rational.” Hidgens sighed, gesturing to the wall behind them and the one opposite as he spoke next. “Those in favour of killing our guests, behind me, those in favour of letting them live but getting them out by other means, in front of me.” There were a few small grumbles as the group slowly dispersed, John having to ask for someone to carry his head to his preferred option. It ended up in a four to five split. Howard, Lex, Ted and Ethan behind Hidgens as he went to join Melissa, Charlotte, Bill and John.

“John only should count as a half vote, it’s unfair considering he doesn’t have the limbs to kill someone currently so obviously wouldn’t side with us.” Howard argued, looking at the head in Bill’s arms. Melissa smiled a little, playing with the fabric of her dress, very obviously confused.

“But wouldn’t that mean you still lose? I never had to go to school, but I think that four and a half is still bigger.” Her tone was almost comically cheerful, causing Howard to huff and walk off, having lost the vote yet again.

From there the ghosts dispersed. Charlotte was compelled by the clock nearing three, approaching her once bedroom to re-enact her death yet again. Hidgens sighed and followed, going to his own room where he’d undoubtedly cover his ears to block out her screams. Ethan followed Lex out, the perpetual smoke coming from her causing him to repeatedly do the hand motion of striking a fire as the two left the room. Bill just placed John’s head down on the chess table and left, Melissa and Ted following him out.

And that decision, of letting Paul and Emma live stood for a few days. But sometimes, it was hard for a man who had lived his life in the sleezy world of government to resist wrongdoing that could be so easily covered up with a lie.

-~-~-

Emma ran her hands through her hair as she stormed around the far too big house. At first it had seemed perfect but now she highly doubted that she and Paul could fix it all up with their very limited savings. She sighed, entering one of the rooms. Why they ever thought they could handle it, she didn’t know. The house was too big for only two people anyway, they should have sold it when they had the chance. She rubbed her face in exhaustion once again as she approached the window, she could hear Paul outside, god knows what he was doing now. She looked out at the giant, trashed garden, looking for her husband, but she couldn’t see him, she leant out more, still looking for him. She pushed herself up on the windowsill, feet hardly on the ground as she teetered out the window, feeling safe as there was no one but her and Paul in the house. Or so she thought. Hands she couldn’t see reached out towards her, using all the power and energy they had to apply force to her shoulders, sending her tumbling forward and down from the second story of the house, towards the ground, and she hit it hard. She felt Paul’s arms around her. She could hear him talking to her, but she was focused on something else. A face in the window she had fallen out of. A man with dark hair in a suit jacket and shirt. Her vision blurred again for a moment. Then she could make out more faces. But that was all until her eyes closed.


	2. Chapter 2

“Would you believe me if I told you that she just… fell?” Howard asked, hands up as the rest of the ghosts stared at him in shock. It had been a few minutes and they’d all run in after hearing Emma’s screams. “Or would you believe that the carpet slipped from underneath her?” He suggested, just trying to break the stunned silence. They were all just staring at him, minus John considering his head had probably been misplaced again. The silence continued for a couple more moments as they could hear Paul calling an ambulance. Then they all rushed at Howard at once, all shouting. He could only catch small parts of what was said. Charlotte was screaming something about how “diabolical” his actions were at him, whereas Ethan was smiling, miming shoving someone. This was the issue with morality changing over time. Eventually, Hidgens cleared his throat, putting an arm in front of Howard, fending off the still furious Charlotte.

“Alright, alright. There is nothing we can do now.” He looked at the rest of the ghosts, once again taking control of the situation. “Did Howard push Emma out of a window? Yes, it appears so. But she has a husband, he’ll look after her, I’m sure of it.” He glanced at the group, Ted huffing and folding his arms, mumbling to Melissa.

“I could look after her.”

“She’s married Ted.” The Georgian ghost stared at him in almost shock. She was too nice to get actually angry with anyone but all the ghosts who’d been around longer than Ted were getting sick of his behaviour.

“If she dies at the hospital, hopefully that eliminates the potential for her to come back here and will send her husband away too.” Hidgens sighed, looking to Bill who smiled sadly. Neither of them wanted Emma to get hurt or die but right now it’d be the easiest option for everyone involved.

“I say we send him away anyway and keep her here.”

“Shut up Ted.”

-~-~-

Paul sighed as he leant over his wife’s hospital bed, half asleep in his chair. It had been two, very difficult weeks but she was awake now, and that’s all that mattered.

After she had fallen from the window, Paul had run to her side, holding her tight as she slipped in and out of consciousness. She had mumbled various things softly as he had grabbed his phone, calling the ambulance in his terrified state. It wasn’t everyday you look up to see your wife tumbling out a window. But as he spoke to the operator, Emma was still staring at the window. He heard her mention something about faces before her eyes shut. And a few hours later, a doctor announced that his wife was in a coma. And Paul felt sick. He remained by her side for days, hand on hers as he waited for her to wake up, only leaving for work or when he needed to return to the house. The house was no longer feeling like a home. Paul no longer believed that they could actually fix it enough to stay there. They’d just have to try and sell it and get out of there, find a house with heating and without risks of his wife going into a coma. One of the nights he spent alone in the house, unable to get to the hospital, stuck out to him.

He’d been alone in their very rundown bedroom, the floor a mess of wires and cables that he’d tried to hook up. He’d been staring at his phone, calling his family to inform them that Emma was still in a coma. Unbeknownst to him, they weren’t the only people he was informing of that fact.

“So not dead?” Ethan asked, the caveman examining the wires as he spoke to his companions in the room. Lex sighed, trying to wipe her ashy hands on her clothes but obviously, it affected nothing.

“Don’t think so… At least Hidgens won’t throw John’s head at Howard again” She shrugged, looking at Paul who was still sat up, talking into his phone. “What’s that in his hand?” She asked, looking back to the third ghost with them. Unfortunately, he was no use either.

“He appears to be whispering into the box.” Ted frowned, sat in the bed beside Paul, trying to listen in on the call. The three ghosts weren’t on the best terms with the others after the vote a week prior, so they had decided to investigate on their own again. Ethan just waved his hand at Ted dismissively, lumbering around the room, looking at all the objects that he’d seen develop in the many, many years since his own death. He was used to seeing some of it when occupants moved into the house, built on the land he once lived off of.

Paul had no idea that any of this was occurring, still just talking into the phone as he half watched the muted tv. “Yeah, she’ll be okay, I’m sure of it. She has to be…” He paused as his mother kept speaking to him, no idea that the ghosts of a caveman, a witch and a poet were roaming his bedroom. Lex was transfixed with the tv, watching whatever Paul had on with a confused fascination. Then, as if it was perfect timing, the show’s location changed, to a couple sat by a fire. Lex yelped, stumbling back from it, covering her eyes. Ted stood up, looking at it too.

“Oh, he should know better than to put that on!” Ted gestured to it, looking back to Lex, who was still cowering. “I mean, we are dead, and he doesn’t know we’re here, but he should still know better!” He glared at Paul who was still completely unaware, talking into the phone.

“Ok, I will fix problem.” Ethan grumbled, stepping towards the lamp on at the side of the room. Unlike the other ghosts and much like Howard, Ethan also possessed somewhat of an ability to interact with the mortal world. But only through electricity. And that was his plan here. Though Paul couldn’t see the ghosts, he could see what they were doing. As the man peacefully spoke, he started to notice the lamp beside the bed. It was the only light they had in the room at that point. And then in started to flicker. If Paul could see the ghosts, he’d see Ethan’s hands half clenched, staring at the light as he struggled to make it flicker.

Paul frowned as he watched the lamp flickering. He stood up, still holding the phone to his ear as he went to the lamps switch. He flicked it on and off. Ethan struggled to keep control of the light, it still flickering, only slightly now. Paul flicked the switch again.

“Damnit, man down!” Ted called out as he crouched beside Ethan on the ground, Paul managing to stop his poor attempt at haunting.

But it was still strange. Thinking back to that night a week later, without the knowledge of the paranormal influence in the house, made Paul uneasy. First Emma’s fall, the strange light flicker, which was only ever in the room they were in. Paul had even seen objects, on flat surfaces, with no shaking, moving and falling. Of course, he didn’t know it was Howard’s doing. To Paul, there was something strange going on. It seemed like something didn’t want them there. And he was right. But for now, he could push those thoughts to the back of his mind. He had to ignore the strange niggling thoughts, he had to ignore how heavy his eyelids were. It may be the middle of the night, but after two weeks, Emma’s eyes were open.

-~-~-

“Paul, I’m fine, I swear.”

“You were in a coma; I can handle the renovations.” Paul sighed as he pulled their car into the wide driveway of the house with a small sigh. “I need to get the wiring sorted out, the lights in our room flicker constantly.” He parked, looking up at it. He really didn’t want to start the renovations with the builders alone, but he knew his wife had to rest. He got out of the car, going around to her side to open the door.

“Paul, I’m capable of handling myself.” Emma sighed as she let her husband put her up out of the seat, neck rigidly locked in a brace. She was lucky to be alive, but she still couldn’t explain how she had fallen. She was lucky she was even able to come home, she’d only been awake for a under a week, but they had determined that she’d ultimately be alright, and Paul was able to take her home. As she stood in the front yard, holding his hand, looking up at the window she fell from, she noticed something. There was a face in there, much like the one she had thought she’d seen after she fell. But it wasn’t the same one, now a dark-haired woman, glasses on as she smiled down at them excitedly. There weren’t supposed to be any builders in the house yet. She tried to shake it off, focusing on Paul helping her through the rotted wooden door into the house. It was the same dingy mess as she remembered. Paul kissed her cheek before gesturing to the hallway.

“Go lie down and try to block out the drill.” Paul chuckled slightly, gesturing to the pile of power tools he had moved into the house. He was going to try his best to somewhat help the builders. Emma gave him a small smile before moving away from him, grateful that he was around to help her. Paul returned the smile before walking off, letting Emma make her way to the room. She had the slightest limp as she got to the door and pushed it open, practically falling into the bed when she got to it with a soft smile. It was nice to just be out of the sterile hospital room. Soon, she felt herself drift off, unaware of the bodies fading through the wall.

“Good lord… Now this is why don’t push people.” Hidgens sighed as he looked at the neck brace before glancing to the group, sighing more at Ethan’s confused expression. “She’s in a brace, he could have broken her damn neck.” He pointed at it using his stick, the only object he could touch in death.

“Well, maybe it’s just a very high collar!” Melissa offered, looking at it as well as she crouched beside Emma’s face. “She seems so nice! I don’t know why we’d want to hurt her.” That earned a scoff from the ghost in the white dress.

“Well, none of us did. But some people don’t respect our agreement.” Charlotte glared at Howard again as Bill joined Melissa, putting his hand on her shoulder.

“Best let her sleep Mel… Even though she can’t see us, we probably shouldn’t stay here.” He looked up at the group. “Come on everyone, let’s not be creepy now.” Charlotte and Lex both nodded curtly, going to leave, but Ted, Ethan and Howard stayed still. The pantsless man glanced to the rest of them.

“Ten dollars says that if I push her off the bed, it’ll finally kill her.” He suggested causing a huff and eyeroll from several of the others, but Ted nodded.

“If it will keep her here then you’re on.”

That was all the confirmation Howard needed to crouch beside Emma’s side, extending his hand and focusing as hard as he could. Charlotte had hurried the rest of the ghost to the side of the room, not wanting to watch if they were going to really kill someone. She didn’t need to relive her own passing and she doubted anyone else needed to either. Though Lex and Ethan were older considering how many years ago they had died, they had both passed on at such young ages that Bill, Charlotte and the other more parental ghosts looked after both of them.

Emma was only in a light sleep, laid flat in the middle of the bed to keep her neck upright. She then felt something, a light prodding at her side, Howard unable to put enough force behind it to push her off the bed. She could here someone softly swear and frowned, shifting a bit. She flinched at the slight pain, causing her to wake up even more.

“Paul? What are you doing?” She mumbled tiredly with a frown as she rubbed her eyes tiredly before opening. And what she saw shocked her. None of the ghosts had moved, all under the impression that she would still be unable to see them. But she wasn’t. With Howard having brought her so close to the brink of death, she was now teetering there, and she stared at the group huddled by one side, widened eyes glancing over each of them.

“Who the fuck are you?” Emma stared in terror as she took in each of the people before her. Them all spluttering for a moment, equally in shock. Emma was convinced she had to be dreaming for a moment, until the door opened. She looked up, expecting to see her husband entering. But then she screamed in terror at the headless body in the doorway.

“Oh, now his body shows up.” Ted huffed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the positivity on chapter one! I will probably continue this AU because I love it!


	3. Chapter 3

“Paul?! Paul!” Emma screamed running down the hallway from their room, not caring about jostling any of her injuries. She was sure this was either a nightmare or she was still in a coma. Because nothing in the human world could explain seeing a headless corpse wandering around. And not to mention everything else in that room. She continued rushing into the main living room before Paul intercepted her, frowning slightly.

“Emma, get back to bed, come on.” He sighed before noticing the fear and stress on her face. “Hey, are you alright?” He asked as she hugged him tight, relieved that this didn’t appear to be a nightmare considering that he was here. She looked up to him and tried to shake her head a little but couldn’t.

“It’s fine… It’s nothing, I’m sure. Just glad you’re here.” Emma pulled away, smiling weakly. Paul would probably think she was crazy if she told him what had happened upstairs. It was probably just a nightmare after all. Paul frowned a little at her answer but nodded, turning slightly to gesture to the wall opposite them, above the fireplace. He was saying something about the peeling paint, but Emma was still thinking on what she had seen. The headless body was the most shocking but it’s not like monkey-looking man and the cinder covered woman weren’t. Where had her brain come up with it? She was sure she’d never seen anything like any of them. Well, she could think of one time. She had seen one of them before, the man in the suit jacket. She hadn’t had long to look at him just now considering the horror of some of the other people her brain created in the room, but she had definitely seen his face before. Right after she fell. She had seen the man in the khaki outfit too, he was behind the other man after she had fell. She only tuned back into Paul when he was halfway done with his sentence.

“-and we can replace the windows in the foyer and it hopefully won’t send us into bankruptcy.” Paul smiled a little as he looked to his wife, but she had only tuned in for the shortest amount of time, because she was staring off into the distance again. He frowned, snapping in front of her face. He had noticed she wasn’t really listening to him but now it was kind of freaking him out. But she was looking past his hand in shocked horror, and she was unaffected by his action. If he could see what she could, then he would see the bodies phasing through the wall, all staring at Emma in curiosity. Emma tensed more as a couple of them moved closer, one with an arrow through his neck and one with blood staining his vest from a gunshot wound.

“Can you see us?” The moustached one in the vest asked, approaching her, causing Emma to back up more, Paul catching her in a gentle hug. The one with the arrow looked slightly concerned about the situation as the others stared from behind the quickly approaching pair.

“Yes! Of course, I can fucking see you!” She screamed, finally at her breaking point, looking at the horrors in the room. She was almost convinced she could see one holding a head. Paul held her protectively, moving in between her and the two men, leaning down to her eyelevel.

“Em… It’s okay, what going on?” He asked calmly, trying to hide his very obvious concern. Emma glanced away from the two men, staring at Paul incredulously.

“Do you not see them?” She shouted, voice shaking a little as she looked away from him again. Paul remained holding her hands as he looked behind him, expecting to see something horrifying based on Emma’s expression and behaviour but he couldn’t see anything that would warrant. Except for the peeling wallpaper that is. He could feel Emma’s hands shaking in his own and the fact that he couldn’t see what was scaring her made him feel worse, he couldn’t exactly comfort her if he didn’t know what was bothering her. He just had to find his own solution.

“Okay, okay, Emma, look at me.” Paul gently put his hand on her cheek, guiding her to look at him. “I’m going to go to the chemist, okay? Something’s going on here and I’m going to fix it… I’ll get you something to help you sleep, just stay here, okay?” He was trying his best though he was still confused about why she was behaving this way; he was just relating it to her fall.

“Okay…” Emma mumbled, closing her eyes for a moment. Paul was right, it was just her brain being weird. She just needed to sleep. But she didn’t want to be alone with what she was seeing. But then she also didn’t want Paul to think she was week, so she opened her eyes and continued nodding. Though out of the corner of her eye, she could see the stupid khaki outfit the arrow one wore. She just needed to face this. She looked to Paul and mumbled something about how she was just going to get a snack while he was out. He smiled slightly and kissed her cheek, grabbing his jacket.

“It’s going to be okay, I promise you. Once we get past that, this will make one hell of a hotel.” He shot her his usual goofy grin before going to the door and Emma couldn’t help but smile after him.

She was lucky that, even though he didn’t always pick what was probably the best option, Paul cared about her, and he only did what he thought would help her the most. But, despite how thankful she was, she was now alone, and she could see in her peripheral vison that the people she was imagining were still there. She closed her eyes again for a moment, trying to regulate her breathing. With Paul gone it was just her left to face it. But she just needed to figure out a solution. She opened her eyes after a moment, slowly turning to the group, taking them all in one by one. The caveman looking one, the one covered in ash, the one with the glasses in the purple dress, the one in the white dress who was staring at her disapprovingly, the pantsless one with the head in his hands, the one in the military uniform and then the two shot ones in front. She inhaled for a moment before finally speaking.

“Okay, I’m going to need some fucking answers.” She looked at them all again, most of them looking shocked that she spoke. She looked at the one with the arrow, noticing he appeared to be in something resembling a boy scout uniform. “You, scoutmaster, explain, now.” She stared at the man who stuttered for a second, the moustached one huffing slightly.

“Of course she talks to him first…” He mumbled to himself as the scout looking man elbowed him.

“Ignore him. So, hi, I’m Bill Woodward, good to meet you.” He smiled a little, before turning to the group behind him, pointing to them each in turn. “That’s Ethan, Lex, Melissa, Charlotte, Howard and John, Hidgens and that’s Ted. Now, not to be rude, but why are you talking to us?” He smiled a little, unaware of the absurdity of the situation. Emma stared at him, dumbfounded.

“Who the fuck are any of you?! What are you doing here?” Emma shouted in confusion as Bill put his hands up defensively. She kept staring as he stepped back, letting the one in the military uniform take charge. Emma hadn’t taken in his name but she thought it started with an H.

“Forgive us for not being the most welcoming at first, I often have issues controlling them all.” He sighed, glancing to Howard for a moment before looking back to Emma. “Now, this may sound shocking to hear, it is extremely shocking for us too, I assure you. But, we are indeed, the ghosts haunting this residence. Some of us,” he indicated Howard, “were slightly less accepting of your arrival, hence your fall from the window. And we’ve come to one conclusion. When you fell, due to the efforts of our dear friend Howard here, he must have brought you so close to death that now, you can see all of us.” He explained it, clearly having thought this out for a while. Emma was just staring at him.

“What the actual fuck?” She stared at him in complete and utter disbelief. A couple of the- well she couldn’t say people considering what the man just confirmed to her. But a couple of the ghosts huffed at her clear uncertainty.

“Honestly, you explain these things to humans they never understand it. Stupid really.” Howard sighed as a couple of the others nodded. He then glanced forward at Emma. “Not calling you stupid per say, but really, I think we spelled it out pretty clearly.”

“I think it would be pretty hard to believe that ghosts are real.” Melissa sighed, nudging the man before stepping forward herself. “I know it’s probably very confusing but now, we can be friends! Yes?” She asked, moving closer to Emma who stepped back more, back against the wall. She took a deep breath again before trying to reason it out to herself.

“Let me get this straight. You all died here?”

They nodded.

“All at different times?”

Another nod.

“And I almost died, so I can see you?”

More nodding and an exasperated sigh from Howard.

“And Paul can’t.”

Even more nodding, slightly sad from a couple of them. Bill sighed and looked at her.

“I’m sorry that you’re in this situation, it’s really unfair but we can’t really change that now…” He sighed, looking around the room. “But please, don’t tell Paul about this. We can’t have anyone who can’t see us know and we don’t want that to come back against you. We’ll try to stay out of your hair so you won’t have to hide this too much, but please. Don’t tell a soul.” It took Emma a moment before she nodded.

“Alright. I won’t tell him. But this is buck-fucking-wild.” She sighed, looking down. She couldn’t believe how insane this was. The man in the vest, well, Ted, smiled slightly, leaning closer to her.

“If your husband doesn’t know, then you and I could-“

“Shut up Ted.” Emma huffed, seeing a couple of the ghosts smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here on out will just be ghost chaos.


	4. Chapter 4

“So, the bullet went right through you?” Emma asked in confusion as she looked at the bullet wound in Ted's vest, causing the man to huff slightly. She nodded slightly, figuring that he didn't exactly want to talk about his death.

"We don't really need to make a mockery of my death, do we?" Ted stood up, turning away and begining to walk away before he turned back to look at her with a small smile. "But if you want to then I suppose that's okay." Emma scrunched her nose and frowned, cringing as she looked over at some of the other ghosts. They all either sighed or nodded. They were all used to his behaviour, and now Emma would have to get used to his behaviour as well.

"We don't really talk about our deaths very much." Melissa shrugged, moving over, dress phasing through some objects. "I mean, we only know about the deaths of the others that we saw... I wasn't around for Ethan's death obviously!" She giggled a little as Ethan frowned slightly, very obviously confused.

"I was only one here, no one was around." He huffed slightly, grunting as he sat at the chess table opposite Howard, who was pushing the pieces for each of them. Howard looked up at his chess partner with yet another sarcastic comment.

"Come off it ape, no one was around, we established that." The politician rolled his eyes as he kept moving various pieces for each of them. "I never saw anyone's death despite my wishes. I died most recently actually, the 90's were a wild time." He chuckled to himself, also causing Emma to cringe slightly. She looked to Charlotte who was watching her extremely closely, scrutinizing her. Emma had first seen the ghosts an hour ago and was finally trying to actually connect to each of them. And she could tell that part of Charlotte's personality was criticizing her relatives, which Emma apparently was.

"What am I doing wrong?" Emma asked in frustration, looking at her great, great something. Causing Charlotte to exhale in annoyance.

"A lady would not talk that way to her elder." Charlotte raised her voice slightly, causing Emma to bring a hand to her ear, looking at Bill who was also by her side. 

"Is she always this shrill?" She asked, chuckling a little at Bill's small nod. She enjoyed spending time with some of them already. It was strange that only a little while ago, she was completely terrified by the ghosts, confused that they even existed as well. But it was not like it was unlikely. Emma had noticed the strange occurrences in the house and discussed it with her husband. Even though she had always been sceptical of the supernatural, this just didn't feel as uneasy as it should. It just felt natural to be around them. And even if they weren’t real, which was very plausible, even more so than their existence, she was just going to go with it. Her brain was still slightly drugged out because of the pain so why not go along with the ride until she realised, she was just really high on painkillers.

"We're grateful that you're so calm about this, we know this can't be easy for you." Ted sighed, sitting down again nearby. His general off-putting nature reminded Emma of several people she knew in the present century, despite his clothes being very much not from this era. "Any of us, and any other person would run at the sight of us. But you have very much not." He smiled as Bill joined in the conversation again. It was almost like he and Ted had swapped personas for a moment, considering Bill's sombre expression.

"But we do need to tell you about a few things." The scout leader sighed as he looked at Emma, trying to angle his head so she didn't have to look at the arrow, aware of how gross it was. "You see, because of what happened, we're not the only ghosts you will be able to see... You're on the brink of life and death now, and you can see everything on both sides. So, it may be disturbing at times." Emma frowned a little at his statement. She hadn't thought about that. Ever since she had come to the realization of the paranormal existing, only an hour ago, she hadn't had the time to consider that it would exist outside of her home. And outside of the nine she had met.

"Also, don't let the husband go in the pantry, scary stuff." Howard mused absentmindedly from he and Ethan's chess game. That drew another, more confused look from Emma as she glanced at each of the other ghosts. This finally drew Lex's attention. She sighed and stepped forward.

"We aren't the only ghosts in the house... There was a village here before the house, I lived there." She glanced down to her soot covered dress. "After my trial, the plague got to them. Killed my sister." She admitted after a moment, looking down in almost shame or hurt. Emma couldn't help but feel bad even though she was pleasantly surprised to see Ethan reach over to pat Lex’s shoulder.

"Alexandra's sister is the only ghost who can be heard by humans when she sings." Hidgens explained, drawing Emma's attention to him. "So, if you do plan on using the pantry if you and Paul intend to eat anything other than take away food, make sure you enter it. You are at the advantage of seeing her, makes it less terrifying."

“Any other thing I should be prepared for?” Emma asked with a slight snort. Everything was already insane so she doubted that anything could get even more intense. She watched as some of them shared looks, almost considering if there was anything else they should say.

“Don’t go in the basement?” Melissa suggested, causing a small wave of mumbles through the group. Emma furrowed her eyebrows.

“Why?”

-~-~-

“So, if they died in the plague and aren’t Lex’s sister, they get locked down here?” Emma whistled lowly as she stood in the doorway to the basement, Hidgens behind her. He nodded shortly, before stepping away. He clearly looked uncomfortable looking at the basement of ghosts.

“Let’s go, they are… terrifying to look at.” He sighed as he turned sharply, leading Emma back up the stairs. He looked back to her when they reached the main floor again. “Are you sure you can keep your promise of never telling Paul?” He asked, he seemed more worried than anyone else did. But Emma could tell that he was vaguely the leader of the group, he seemed to be at least. And she could understand why he would be protective of them.

“I promise. If I don’t wake up and realise this was all a drug induced nightmare, I won’t tell Paul anything. He wouldn’t believe me anyway. It’s that stupid.” She smiled a bit at the military man who offered her a kind smile.

“Of course. Well, thank you Emma, but I do believe we should stop talking before your husband hears you talking to thin air.” He suggested as Emma heard Paul’s footsteps coming inside. She looked up as her husband walked through the door, holding a plastic pharmacy bag in his hand. She glanced back to Hidgens, but he was gone, having stepped through another wall to go see the rest of the ghosts. She sighed but looked back to Paul as he handed her the bag.

“Sorry, this house is a bit too far away from everything. And the traffic was absolutely ridiculous.” Paul sighed. “And the builders were very confused about some of the plans so obviously they needed my professional help.” Paul chuckled, purposely acting overly confident as Emma kissed his cheek, trying to ignore John’s body wandering by in the background.

“Of course, who would want an actual architect or other builders help when they have Paul Perkins-Matthews on site.” She joked as she looked in the bag. She now knew that sleeping better wouldn’t really do much, considering the ghosts would always be there. “Thanks… I might just start making a grocery list or something, try to take my mind off of everything.” Not only the ghosts but also the general terror of their financial difficulties.

“Of course. Just be careful, don’t want you knocking your head again.” He smiled, blissfully unaware of everything going on in the house. And Emma was going to do anything she could to keep it that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sadly shorter but I've been very busy but I tried :)


	5. Chapter 5

Emma had expected hiding the secret of ghosts to be much harder than it was. At first it was admittedly difficult to tune out the ghosts when Paul had to talk to her, and they were arguing in another room. But eventually she had figured something out. They often had their own game nights that they took part in, leaving her and Paul to her own devices. Sometimes they’d even come and Join Paul and Emma when they watched movies, just silently taking in the film and only occasionally asking questions which Emma could often answer, either framing it as her own question or like she was telling Paul a fact about the film. But sometimes the ghosts didn’t want to exactly leave her alone. A moment like that was now, a week after her discovery of them.

“So, we can turn the room beside ours into my office and when we finally get it to hotel status that can be like our base of operations.” Paul smiled at her as she tried to smile back but was very distracted by the yelling behind her. 

“Emma, it is a matter of urgency and we need to discuss Howard’s extremely poor choice.” Hidgens was gesturing aggressively with the cane in his hand, Emma trying not to flinch when it was brought down, reminding herself that it would go right through her. But the yelling was incredibly distracting. But Emma just tried to keep up the façade of listening to his husband. Humming slightly to try and drown out the very angry military official behind her.

“Sounds like a great idea.” Emma gave Paul an extremely tight-lipped smile as Paul nodded happily, gesturing to the map of the house he had on the table. He continued talking about the loans and permits he had gotten for the house but now Emma had to look away, half looking at Hidgens with an exasperated expression, silently begging him to stop yelling and just talk.

“Well, now that I finally have your undivided attention, Howard has chosen an incredibly inappropriate activity for game night and I shan’t have it be played in front of the teenagers.” Hidgens pointed his cane, which he had informed Emma was called a swagger stick, but she couldn’t think about that without laughing. But Emma couldn’t help but glare slightly at his statement, raising her voice.

“That’s what you so desperately needed to tell me?!” She moved her hands to demonstrate her annoyance. Paul looked up from the plans in confusion, his wife was seemingly talking to him but not looking at him.

“I was just covering the water damage… Did you not want to discuss that now?” Paul asked, slightly upset by Emma’s sudden outburst. She sighed; she hadn’t meant to suddenly talk to the ghost but Hidgens could be extremely irritating as she had learned.

“No, no, I meant, that… You really want to talk about water damages when you have such good interior design plans?” She covered lamely as he looked down at the plans, moving them to show her the photos again. She smiled weakly. “They look really good; I mean you’re allowed to have your ideas and if I disagree, I don’t have to take part in your ideas and neither do others.” Emma sighed a little when she took in Paul’s slightly confused expression, looking over to Hidgens and hoping he got the message. She had only found herself doing this sometimes, when they were especially persistent on talking to her. That was mostly Ted though. She gave him a small wave of her hand, silently asking him if he understood. She looked back to Paul as Hidgens phased back though the wall, shaking his head.

Paul just stared at his wife, slightly frightened by her erratic behaviour since her coma. But he just blamed it on her brain being strange, or just him not understanding her jokes.

-~-~

“We don’t have to treat her word as gospel just because she’s alive, she’s no better than us.” Howard rolled his eyes as he laid back on the couch, hiding his legs behind a pillow. He was still embarrassed by his death.

“Well, our vote has been drawn twice. We need a third party to solve this.” Hidgens sighed, gesturing referentially with his stick around the room. Ethan, Lex, Ted and Howard had all voted for Howard’s choice of game, Charlotte, Bill, Melissa and Hidgens were very much against it and John couldn’t really vote considering he could never participate in games night. He was lacking a body for that. 

“If your concern is over the those who died in their youth playing this, they have both voted to play.” Ted gestured to Lex and Ethan from his perch on the arm of the couch. Ethan was playing with part of the fur he had on, one hand clenched as he played with the light beside them. And Lex was simply cowering from the fire.

“You trust them to decide? I use my power as the leader of the group to veto this idea.” The military man huffed as he looked to those who had sided with him. Charlotte nodded in agreement and Bill just shrugged, but Melissa huffed.

“Don’t imply that they don’t know anything! Their voices are as important as yours!” She rarely asserted herself amongst the group, most of the time she ended up overly emotional, but she didn’t like Hidgens when he was acting like this. All the others seemed slightly taken aback. Bill rested his hand on her shoulder, trying to calm the Georgian ghost.

“How about we cancel games club tonight?” Bill suggested calmly, even though he too was frustrated. “Everyone is a little tightly wound and annoying Emma won’t do any good. She deserves respect in her own home, we’re not here to make her life any harder. And your incessant arguing does just that.” He looked around the group who all sheepishly nodded. Bill smiled and sat back in his seat; glad the others seem to have gotten his message. He looked over to Ethan for a moment, who was still causing the lights to flicker. He smiled slightly seeing the teenager enjoying himself. That was until he heard Emma coming.

“What are you guys doing?!” She huffed, staring at them all. Howard just shrugged as he leant back on the sofa. “You can’t talk to me when I’m with Paul, how many times do I have to tell you that? You’re welcome to come to movie night but that’s when I invite you. And I didn’t invite you to talk to me when we’re discussing his renovation plans!” She shouted, everyone looking up at her suddenly aggressive tone. Hidgens’ wasn’t as intimidated as he should have been.

“Sorry, but it was of extreme importance, and if Howard continues choosing activities like this-“

“Oh my god, I don’t care. Shut up.” Emma glared at him. “I get that you guys are ghosts, and I get that this was your house first. But Paul and I are here now, and I don’t constantly need you trying to get me to settle your personal disputes.” She looked between them all, they were all looking down in shame.

“We’re very sorry Emma, I do hope I never irritate you as much as they do.” Charlotte stood up, looking at her relative. Emma just glanced to her with a very false smile.

“No, you constantly critiquing my lifestyle doesn’t bother me at all.” Emma sarcastic smile turned into a slight scowl. She took a moment before returning to normal “Sorry, I know some of you rarely bother me but I really need to get the plans with Paul laid down so we can renovate. We need to actually turn a profit on this sooner rather than later.” They all nodded slightly.

“Okay, we not bother you.” Ethan looked up at her, the caveman giving Emma a thumbs up. She gave a small, relieved sigh.

“Thank you, guys, really, sorry I got upset. That’s on me. It’s just hard to hide your secret from Paul.”

But Emma hadn’t looked around the room well enough, nor had the ghosts. Because now Paul was standing in the entry to the lounge room, watching his wife have an in-depth conversation with thin air. But then Hidgens noticed.

“Oh dear god, you didn’t check for intruders?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this is late and short again, just been feeling out of it though. But hey, now Paul is scared.


	6. Chapter 6

Paul’s worry had been mounting within the last week. Of course, it had started when Emma got home from the hospital. He always knew when Emma lied to him. He had heard her scream upstairs, causing him to run inside. He was worried she was more hurt, that she had fallen again. But then she just insisted that she was okay. It was a blatant lie, Paul could tell because she was avoiding his eyes, but he hadn’t thought to bring it up then. So, he had continued talking. And then she had seen something. And that terrified him. But then he convinced himself that it was another consequence of her coma and went to get her medication. But his thoughts of how strange that was never left him.

The house itself was strange too. Paul had worked with an electrician to fix up the power in the house, to stop the flickering issue with the lights in the house. But they still flickered. The night after the electrician’s visit, Paul and Emma had been sat on the couch together, watching a film. It had seemed perfectly normal. Then the lamp beside Paul’s head started flickering, Emma sending a glare towards it, then it stopped. Almost as if she were impacting the odd movements in the room. Then there was the time he was in their bedroom, waiting for his wife to come to bed. Emma had stepped into the room, mumbling something about how they still needed to fix the hot water. She had looked over to him in bed and jumped. If Paul had been able to see what she did, he would have seen the severed head in their bed, resting beside him. Emma had given a pointed look over her shoulder, waiting for something before hopping in the bed beside him, going immediately back to normal. It was strange. Add on to that, him stepping into rooms and walking through the house and smelling smoke as he unconsciously walked through Lex.

Something was seriously wrong with the house and now, with him seeing Emma talking to herself, something was very wrong with his wife. He hadn’t heard everything, only walking in just after Emma had said something about needing to get the set renovation plans done. She paused for a moment after, looking towards the end of the couch beside the lamp. She had said something else that Paul hadn’t heard clearly. Then her head had snapped to face him, noticing his presence. Paul had just waved awkwardly, bring up one of his renovation ideas. But that moment had never left him. He was determined to figure out why it had occurred in the first place.

Today Emma was talking with some of the builders, so it was Paul’s moment to himself, setting himself in the room he intended on turning into an office. Unknowingly Bill’s room. He didn’t see as the scout leader watched over his shoulder as he opened his computer. He stared into the screen for a moment. The device had only been on standby, so it had immediately opened up to his computer background – He and Emma on their wedding day. He was beyond worried about her. He had heard her scream as she had fallen. He had seen her in a comatose state for weeks. Sat by her side and held her hand even though he had no idea if or when she would wake up. And now that she was, he knew something else was very, very wrong. He logged into his computer, opening Google. He didn’t even know what to type.

“Adults talking to thin air.”

He initially typed before sighing and erasing it. Everything that would come up would tell him that his wife was insane and that was the last thing he wanted. He sighed, unaware of Bill leaning over his shoulder, both fascinated by the device and trying to comfort Paul. His hand was just hovering over Paul’s shoulder, not putting it down as to not cause himself to vomit. He was concerned about the man in front of him even though Paul was oblivious to his existence. Paul put his head in his hands and let out a loud huff. He was confused, lost and didn’t know how to deal with any of this. He looked up after a moment, looking at the computer before searching for the closest doctor’s office. He just wanted answers to her new erratic behaviour.

-~-~-

“He thinks she’s lost it really, so it’s not like he’s going to be calling investigators at any point.” Bill shrugged as he sat on the couch, the agreed upon ghost discussion spot. “So at least we don’t have to go through that again.” They all nodded slightly, acknowledging the disaster that was the paranormal investigator visit. But some of the ghosts didn’t exactly agree.

“How dare he assume that this is all just some fictious creation of her mind.” Ted huffed from the corner, Howard moving his hand to mock the poet’s flowery language. “I’m serious. How hard is it for him to just talk to her? He just assumes she’s crazy for hearing us.” There were a few snickers as Ted leant back in his seat.

“No one would ever believe that would they?” Lex snorted, standing near the entryway to the kitchen, a small girl holding Lex’s hand, covered in marks of her fatal illness. “If you hadn’t joined us on the other side, would you have ever believed in us?” The young woman fixed her gaze on Ted who just shrugged slightly, resting his head on his hand and staring off in annoyance.

“Dramatic prick.” Howard rolled his eyes, moving chess pieces for Ethan as the caveman pointed at his pieces and different squares, silently competing with the politician. Howard exclaimed when he saw where Ethan wanted his piece moved. “Oh, you bastard.” He begrudgingly did as Ethan instructed, his opponent clapping softly at his victory. Ethan’s victories were becoming far too frequent for Howard’s liking.

“Look, we cannot convince him we exist ourselves.” Charlotte ran a hand through her hair. “Our abilities have been well on display since he arrived, and he still just blames the wiring of the house.” There was a small silence after she spoke, a passing thought going through everyone’s mind. A thought they knew would work out.

“Everyone’s abilities except yours.” Melissa pointed to her, smiling slightly. “You can be seen in photos, yes? Perhaps we convince Emma to show him? Or try and get him to?” She giggled slightly, a couple of the other’s nodding.

“Of course, I will bring Emma in at once. She will show the photo of Charlotte to Paul, convince him of our existence. Though I greatly dislike him having knowledge of us, it’ll make it easier to sort out these hotel matters.” Hidgens stood up, taking over again, pointing with his swagger stick to no particular place in the room but just for emphasis. Charlotte raised her hand in protest, she hated being used as a party trick. But John spoke up for her from his place on the couch beside Ted.

“Or we could let them go about their lives without our interference?” He suggested, people finally noticing that he was there. “Emma should choose to reveal us to him if she wants, it’s not out job to determine what she does after all. Bill already said that he thinks she’s crazy, if she tries to show him image proof of ghosts, he might ignore her and assume her metal health worse than it is. And we can’t force Charlotte to go through with this either. If she isn’t comfortable with letting people record her, then she shouldn’t have to.” He was often overlooked due to the fact that he didn’t often have a body like everyone else but when he finally spoke up, most people often agreed. And that occurred here, most of the group sighing and nodding. Hidgens sat back down, putting his cane away.

“We’ll let Emma chose what she wants to do about it them.”

-~-~-

“He has been absolutely ridiculous lately.” Ted sighed as he sat on the edge of the bathtub, watching Emma get ready for the day. She had kicked the out earlier when she was showering but she had let him come in to keep her company considering Paul was in the garden. So now she was letting Ted and Lex vent to her about Hidgens, apparently most of the ghosts were rubbed the wrong way by his behaviour as of late.

“I mean, he seems demanding but he’s not completely unreasonable.” Emma sighed as she washed her face. “I mean, shit, you guys can be really annoying, and I’ve only had to deal with you guys for a few weeks not like eighty years or however long he’s been dead for.” Lex chuckled a little, leaning against the cabinet beside the sink. 

“We deserve that honestly. But I do agree with Ted, I mean, it’d be great if he could get off our backs for once.” Lex shrugged, looking around the small room. “Not as bad as living with Charlotte for a hundred and twenty years but still not the most enjoyable.” She smiled as she played with her slightly burnt bonnet. That drew Emma’s attention.

“You guys have known each other a long time, huh? I mean you saw some of the others die even.” It had never really occurred to her how strange it would be for the ghosts to have seen each other’s deaths. But at the mention of such, Emma could see smoke coming from the top of Lex’s head and Ted clutching the bullet wound, in obvious pain. The very mention of it hurt each of them. And Emma could only assume it was the same for the others. She was opening her mouth to apologise when her phone rang. She sighed, picking it up and turning away, plugging her other ear so she could hear better.

“Hello? Emma Perkins speaking.” She greeted, met by the voice of a young woman.

“Hi Emma, my name is Alice Woodward, my dad was killed on your property in 1984.” The woman on the other line paused for a moment as Emma frowned. “My family and I normally visit every year, I just wanted to call to ask if it’s still okay for us to come, seeing as it’s your house now… We don’t mean to intrude, we won’t come inside your home, just on the property.” She sounded anxious, causing Emma to frown a bit but she immediately agreed.

“Of course, you’re welcome to come, we’d love to have you Alice.”

The second she said this, out of the corner of her eye she saw Ted and Lex exchange a look. They knew where this was going to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be a lot more of a exploration of their deaths and such!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be a 2 part chapter about Bill's death day and all the chaos that goes down!

Emma sighed as she looked at the clock handing by the fireplace. Only two in the morning. She held the cup in her hands closer to herself, pulling her knees closer to her chest. She sighed softly as she looked to the window behind her, willing the sun to come up. She had woken up little over an hour ago and hadn’t been able to get back to sleep. There was some sort of creeping uneasiness that she couldn’t get away from. She was just trying to wait it out. She drank quietly, glancing around again. It was weird now knowing that ghosts were real. Before, she was never this skittish when awake late, even though she wouldn’t have even been able to see the ghosts if they were there. But somehow knowing they were real and that she could see them sneaking up on her was unsettling. She sighed and adjusted her seating position, seeing her own reflection in the mirror, as well as a figure behind her now. She jumped a little as she turned to the caveman behind her.

“Jesus, Ethan…” She whispered, turning to fully face him, drinking her coffee before placing it down on the battered coffee table. “You really like sneaking around huh?” She asked as Ethan grunted, moving to join her on the couch, looking at her with almost sad eyes. Emma’s expression changed to a slight frown.

“Sorry. Don’t sleep well.” He shrugged, his eyeline travelling to the fire. Emma figured he tended to do that because of his history so just let it happen. She just listened to him talking. “Night and day have no meaning when dead this long. Don’t often sleep.” There were obvious gaps where he couldn’t find or just didn’t know the words. Despite having been around for a long time, Ethan didn’t appear to have learned much, but Emma figured that might have been due to him being slightly more free spirited.

“I mean, I’m probably going to head back to bed soon. But I’ll sit up with you for a bit?” Emma offered, slumping back into the couch a little. “That okay with you?” She asked, looking at the caveman. She took his grunt as confirmation that she could stay with him. Ethan sat there for a moment, staring into the fire. He seemed to be very quiet at times, the opposite of most of the others, but Emma guessed that was due to him having died at one of the youngest ages out of the ghosts. Not that she could tell, he was very much a product of his time, worn down completely. Emma just had to find some way to strike up a conversation that he could actually contribute to, but he didn’t know very many words. But, thinking back to the phone call she had received from Bill’s daughter, it left her with one glaring question about each of her new friends. She just hoped they’d all want to answer it. For her curiosity’s sake.

“Ethan, how did you die?”

She didn’t expect an immediate answer, she expected Ethan to maybe even yell at her. Most of the other ghosts seemed cagey about their deaths. Ted wincing and holding his stomach, Lex looking down as smoke rose from her, but they were the obvious ones. Emma doubted there could be much more to those stories. She glanced to Ethan who had finally looked away from the fire, looking at the wall. Emma had a fleeting moment of doubt that he had heard her but then she heard him chuckle slightly, shaking his head a little. He then turns to her, making eye contact.

“You see, everyone die in my time, very easy. But sometimes, people want other people dead. People want me dead.” He pointed to himself, face passive and purely unbothered. Emma frowned at that, moving her hand to tell him to continue. And he did.

“I was near lake, runs through land.” He pointed out the window, Emma couldn’t see anything in the dark, but she had seen the lake before. “Bear was chasing, tried to escape with friend. And he pushed. Body ripped up after death.” Ethan acted out his story with his hands as he spoke, pushing Emma lightly. He seemed almost okay with how he went, shaking his head slightly as if it was an ordinary occurrence. An ordinary occurrence that his best friend had shoved him into a lake, knowing he couldn’t swim and let his body be mauled, just to save himself. Ethan had died because of another person’s cowardice. And he was alright with it, it happened. And he knew he was by far the least vengeful spirit in the house.

“So that’s why you have no physical wounds?” Emma asked, it was the only words she could find after what she heard. “You drowned before they could form?” She shifted again, picking up her slightly cold coffee. His story explained a lot, especially why he didn’t have the physical markings that some of the others did. But she couldn’t help but feel guilty. He was so relaxed with such a brutal demise; he was only a teenager and he had accepted it.

“Been here for long time, seen everyone die. Not the worst.” He wagged his finger at her in a way that Emma couldn’t help but laugh at. She guessed that was probably right. If everyone else’s death had been witnessed by those who died before them, then Ethan could compare his own to all of the others.

“So how did everyone else pass? They seem kind of intense about it.” Well, it was their literal deaths but if Ethan could so easily open up to her, why couldn’t the others? What was stopping them.

“Not my place to tell.” Ethan shook his head, looking back to the window. “Go back to bed, almost day.” He grunted again and Emma shrugged with a sigh. The conversation only left her with more questions.

And she hoped that, eventually, she would get answers.

-~-~-

“The builders are coming back tomorrow.” Paul sighed as the pair sat at the kitchen bench the next morning – well same morning just at a more normal time. He handed a cup to Emma, yet another cup of coffee. “So, we have a day to ourselves!” He gave a small smile that Emma couldn’t help but chuckle at.

“Well, this afternoon some girl whose dad died here is coming over, just onto the property I think.” Emma shrugged, taking a small drink and pretending that she wasn’t seeing the ghosts populating the kitchen.

Howard and Hidgens were reading the newspaper at the edge of the table, just the front page as they were aware of Paul’s presence. Ted was stood by the window opposite the table, staring out and mumbling whatever questionable poem he could think of, Charlotte next to him, covering her ears and calling whatever he was saying “filth”. Lex and Ethan were by the pantry, talking softly to Lex’s sister. Melissa was trying to get John’s head out of the fridge which caused Emma to snort slightly. Paul gave her a slightly confused look and Emma shrugged it off. Not just because she had sworn to secrecy around the ghosts’ existence, but because it would be far too difficult to explain how strange the scene around them was. Bill was the only notable exception that morning.

“If we’ve had people die here, isn’t it worth trying to get a count? And making sure no one’s buried here?” Paul asked, adjusting the glasses he had on, only because he had just woken up. “We don’t want to be running a hotel on a mass grave.” Emma heard a few grumbles rise from the ghostly group around her.

“Well, it’s not a mass grave technically.” Howard shrugged, the pantsless ghost sitting on the table. “I wasn’t buried here, don’t think anyone after the plague people were, so you’re mostly clear.” He gave her a strangely irritating smile, causing Emma to roll her eyes.

“They- He wasn’t buried here I don’t think, she just said her dad died here in the eighties, they probably took his body elsewhere.” Emma looked at him. “God what do you think people are, animals?” She accidentally let out a small chuckle as Ted pointed to Ethan, finally tuned in to the conversation. Ethan put his hands up in annoyance.

“Fine, fine. Anyway, I was going to send my sister some photos of the study later so can you deal with whatever it is with the girl and her dead dad, while I do that?” Paul asked, pulling the newspaper towards him, getting a frustrated exclamation from both the politician and captain at the end of the table. Emma watched as they both now leant over Paul’s shoulder, reading the pages he was looking at now. Emma noticed as Howard’s face fell, clearly upset by whatever was on the page. With her curiosity piqued, Emma shifted her chair closer to Paul’s, leaning over his shoulder to read the article.

“’Goodman’s remains moved’?” Emma frowned as she read over it, having not put two and two together yet. “Very on topic for today’s breakfast conversation.” She moved away from her husband again, looking back to her toast. She had failed to notice the very awkward looks the ghosts were shooting each other.

“That weird governor who died in bed.” Paul snorted, folding the newspaper and putting it to the side. “Strange way to go, no one even knows how he kicked it.” He sighed, staring into his cup before the newspaper slid off table beside him, even though it was far from the edge. But he wasn’t Emma, so he didn’t see Howard storming out of the room, Melissa following him to tell him it wasn’t that bad.

“Yeah… Weird.” Emma sighed and stood, moving to put her cup in the sink. “I’m going to go take a shower then do some study. Alright?” She asked, looking at her husband who simply nodded. She smiled as kissed his cheek before leaving the room, various ghosts following her. She had some thoughts she needed to settle in her mind.

-~-~-

“Emma? Can I have a word with you?” Ted asked as he followed the woman through her bedroom and into the bathroom. She turned to look to him.

“Ted, I did mean that I was going to shower, it was the studying that was a lie. I can see you now so it’s even weirder and much worse, so go.” She exhaled in frustration as she grabbed a towel. She wasn’t going to shower with the Romantic Era poet in the room. But he seemed confused by her statement. She was preparing to yell at him to make it very clear before he spoke again.

“No, please. It’s about Bill.” He sighed, looking at her seriously for once. “It’s his death day today, hence why his family is coming. It’s a very tense day for all of us, I was hoping you’d let me explain that? Just to make your life easier after all.” It was strange for Emma to see Ted being sincere with her. For once not hitting on her.

“Okay, you have five minutes.”

“Thank you.” Ted sighed, moving to sit on the edge of the bath, looking up at her. “Well, you see, most of us, except Howard, witnessed Bill die. Some of us may even remember it better than he does, he doesn’t exactly want to remember what happened. The issue is that he was shot by one of his students of the youth group he runs. And it made us think. Most of us treat Bill’s death day as a reminder of when we realised the truth of our demises.”

“Yeah, what truth would that be?” Emma folded her arms, slightly intrigued. But Ted shook his head.

“You’d have to ask them. Well, the ones who have come to that conclusion. Deaths like mine don’t fit in at all to their theories.” Ted shrugged. “But some of them think that they were all betrayed in the lead up to their deaths. And some of them get very bitter today.” He sighed, hand going to the wound of his stomach. He still thought of his death as less of an act of betrayal but of his killer cheating him, telling himself that he was clearly a man of honour. Nothing had caused his death other than his duel opponent’s cowardice. Or so he thought.

“Well, hopefully bitter doesn’t mean they’ll bother me.” Emma sighed as she looked at her watch. “I’ll talk to everyone later, but I need to shower.” She sighed, putting her towel down on the cabinet. Ted nodded and stood, going to phase through the door.

“Of course.”

“Thank you, Ted.”

-~-~-

A couple hours later, Paul was in his soon to be office. He let out another sigh, Charlotte leaning over his shoulder, fascinated by watching him use his computer. The man turned to look around the room. There was mould on the wallpaper, the curtains were torn and there was a very damaged bedframe to one side. There was far too much work for him and Emma. But they had to start somewhere. And this room was the least of their worries considering the busted pipes, unstable floorboards and the rotting smell from the basement. He could handle it. He turned, phone in his hand. As he had told Emma, his sister was helping him with his plans considering how bad he was at this. He took a photo of the space he was in, before texting it to his younger sister. He sighed and collapsed back into his seat, emailing into his boss about working from home for the next couple weeks.

But he hadn’t looked back at the photo he sent. He hadn’t noticed the translucent figure by the wall, resembling a woman. He hummed to himself as he typed out the email before his phone buzzed with a text rom his sister.

**Clare Matthews – 11:25am  
** _Is that Emma in the room? What is she wearing?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part two will be out in a couple days!


	8. Chapter Eight

“He saw me, I’m telling you!” Charlotte huffed as the ghosts gathered in the living room. “He took a photo, you can see me vaguely in it, he knows.” She stressed as Hidgens put up his hand to stop her, pacing slowly. Ted stood by her side, worried and trying to comfort her. None of them wanted to be the reason the ghosts were revealed to someone who couldn’t see them. It was alright for Emma to know, she could see them. But if Paul confronted her and she told him? He would think her crazy, he would tell someone. Everything would fall apart.

“Alright, well, then we need to run interference.” Hidgens looked to them. “We need to stop Paul from showing Emma the picture, because either she will crack and admit out existence or deny it and he will spread the image. Half of us go to Paul, intercept the photo, get rid of it if we can. The rest distract Emma so he can never speak to her in a free moment.” The others hummed in agreement, though none of them were fans of Hidgens’ aggressive leadership, he had a good plan. Bill was the only one not on side.

“Do we really have to interfere with their lives again?” Bill rolled his eyes, looking down to the ground. There were a few mumbles through the group, most of them making fun of the scoutmaster. He just huffed and looked to the side.

"Fine, since Bill's being a dead weight, John, we'll need you to step in." Hidgens looked to the head on the couch who gave a sarcastic smile.

"Lucky me. Will you put my head back if I h-"

"Good. So, I'll take the more annoying ones, Lex, Ethan, Charlotte, and we'll go occupy Emma's time." Hidgens gestured to each of them with his swagger stick. "Howard, you take the rest to get rid of the photo and keep Paul from ever getting to Emma." He looked around to the group who all nodded, Lex and Charlotte both mildly offended. But at this point no one really wanted to question his authority. Howard raised his hand.

"Great plan, but I'm the only one who can touch anything, how are they supposed to help me stop Paul?" He asked, putting his hand back down on his lap.

"I only really needed you to go do that. I just wanted you to take the others as they are not useful to me." Hidgens shrugged as Ted glowered at him. "Ted, I'm not exposing Emma to more of your poetry, none of us want to hear it." He put up his hand as he looked to the hallway door, ordering silence from his fellow ghosts. There were footsteps.

-~-~-

"Emma? Emma? I need to show you something!" Paul called out as he walked through the hallway, entering the lounge room, staring at his phone. The photo was open, and he couldn’t stop staring at it, there was something there. He could see the ghostly figure and it was freaking him out. He knew there was something weird going on. He called out for his wife again. It was hard to find each other sometimes in the house. It was too big for just the two of them. Or so he thought. But soon he heard Emma’s shoes on the stairs. She had her hair up, clearly having been focusing on her studying.

“Yeah what?” Emma asked from the stairs as she began coming downstairs. But at that moment, there was a smash. Paul looked behind him to where a vase had slid from the table, smashing on the ground. He swore going to find the dustpan and brush as Emma got downstairs, Paul gone. She looked around, slightly confused as she saw the vase on the ground, not taking in Howard sat suspiciously on a seat nearby. Before she could call out for her husband, Charlotte got in her face.

“Emma, if I may, I would like to ask you about something upstairs, not that I’m complaining but some of Paul’s decorations up there are just not appropriate for this house.” It was a poor excuse to talk and Charlotte knew it, she just had to separate them. Emma frowned but nodded.

"Yeah, sure, I wanted to ask you guys something actually." Emma sighed as she went back up the stairs, looking to Charlotte to follow. The woman in white nodded and walked up the stairs alongside her great niece. Emma didn't notice Hidgens giving Charlotte a small thumbs up as he followed them upstairs.

"Yes, I quite agree on the decorations, I am happy to address these problems. And all your concerns, always am. I love interaction." He joined them, Lex and Ethan sighing and trailing after. Neither of them really wanted to take part but they had to stick to the plan apparently. Hidgens could be very demanding with that fact. Emma gave them all a strange look but kept walking up the stairs, this house really was too big for them. She just decided to start with her questions before having to listen to Charlotte and Hidgens complain about her husband.

"Why's Bill so mopey today? Like I get he died, but it's been like what? Thirty years." Emma asked, looking around at all of them. They all immediately mumbled the same two words.

"Thirty-six."

"Right, that many years." Emma sighed as they led her through to the upstairs living room. "Like, Ethan, you died so fucking long ago, and you seem pretty fine with it all, what's got him so upset. And Howard's was recent too right?" She knew it sounded insensitive, but she was still confused about the topic of their deaths. Some of them seemed more at peace, some of them still had their guard up around her.

"His family still come, reminder of what he had." Ethan grunted, shrugging as he stopped by the wall, he liked to be near lights, messing with them to occupy himself. “I have no one, no one care, no reminders.” He seemed strangely not upset by it, like it was inevitable. But Emma supposed he had been there for so long that he had ben able to process it. But that still didn’t explain Howard. Why wasn’t he as torn up over it as Bill was?

“What about Howard then? He seems fine, do none of his family come to visit.” As soon as the sentence left her mouth, the others all shot each other uncomfortable looks. They all had been sidestepping this topic even with each other. Hidgens cleared him throat uncomfortably, holding his swagger stick in front of him with both hands. Ethan was messing with the lights and looking away to avoid speaking. Eventually it was Lex who spoke up.

“You probably noticed the lack of pants… Doesn’t take much had work to guess he’s not really a family man.” Lex sighed, sitting down on one of the chairs. She folded her hands in her lap, coughing softly. “And wasn’t the most popular governor. No one thought much of him, sort of just accepted he was gone and moved on. He doesn’t think much of it either, no family means no reminders of his fuck ups. And he thinks he had it well so, hasn’t caught up to him that it wasn’t a glamorous way to go.” She sighed as Emma nodded, eyes flicking to Ethan before returning to the other three. Ted had said before that Bill’s deaths reminds the others of the day, they found out the betrayals of their deaths and that tracked with what Ethan had told her even though his story was confusing and poorly articulated. But he couldn’t help her immediate curiosity. And she had three of them right here.

“How about you guys? How did you all kick it?”

-~-~-

“Why does he always put you in charge?” Ted huffed as the remaining ghosts, waited for Paul to return with the dustpan and brush. He was glaring at Howard who was playing with his jacket absentmindedly. The pantsless ghost scoffed as he looked at Ted.

“Who else would he put in charge? You? You couldn’t make a rational decision to save your life, evidently.” He gestured to Ted’s bullet wound, causing the other man to glare and mime slapping him with a glove. Howard would have been offended if he was born three hundred years ago. Melissa was stood off to the side, holding John’s head as Bill sulked beside her. She wasn’t willing to get in between Howard and Ted.

“How dare you, my death was an accident. At least I didn’t die by-“ Ted started, cut off by Howard pushing him. Ghosts could still make contact with each other. Ted just glared at him as Paul returned, putting his phone on the table beside him as he leant down to clean up the smashed vase. Howard immediately reached out his finger to push it but John intervened.

“He’s right there. He’ll just pick it up, doesn’t really affect him.” John interrupted, he was rather useless without his body but he was still one of the most rational of the ghosts. He liked to remind them about that with snide “not just a pretty face” comments constantly, that caused Melissa to giggle.

“Fine, then we’ll wait until, it’s near a bin or something.” Howard crossed his arms, looking around in annoyance. He was challenged a lot more for control in the group than Hidgens was. Even though he was the only one who held a real position of power. And he didn’t want to let it stand for any longer. He sat back and waited as the man stood up, holding the pieces of the broken vase. Ted was mumbling something that sounded like “what does Emma see in him?” which caused Howard to roll his eyes. He couldn’t stand him either. The other three that were with them were fine. Melissa was nice enough and John was always the voice of reason, and Bill was probably the nicest of them. Even though he got weird around his death day. Speaking of, Howard noticed the scout leader’s eyes light up when a car pulled up outside. He tracked his gaze to the young woman getting out of the car, holding a baby.

He knew from plenty of painful talks with Bill that he had a daughter, just like Howard did, though Bill was a considerably better father. He didn’t want to say it hurt to see Bill’s family show up for him. But considering he and Bill were the only ones with recent death days and the only ones with living close family, it hurt to see the other get cared for when Howard died most recently. But he naturally blamed his family for that. It was their fault they didn’t visit him, they couldn’t appreciate the time he did give them. Yet he couldn’t help the regret he felt. He looked away from Bill’s daughter and back to the man. Bill was headed back upstairs towards where Emma had gone.

-~-~-

“She blamed Hannah, and I took the blame. Burned me for it.” Lex finished her story, looking down as the caveman rubbed her shoulder. “At least she got rid of one of her daughters.”

Emma’s heart ached as she listened. Lex probably deserved to die least of all of them but it was hard to compare all their traumas. There was another one she could add to her knowledge – Lex being burned alive as a witch to protect her sister, before watching her sister die from the plague. Emma was at least glad that the others could help, Charlotte having taken a protective motherly stance with her.

“Thank you for telling me… I’m sure that was awful.” Emma sighed softly as Lex nodded, shaking as Ethan hugged her, memories brought back. Hidgens gave her a small sympathetic shoulder pat but nothing more. He was clearly not adept at emoting just yet. Emma sat back a bit. Ethan’s tale had hardly been harrowing compared to Lex’s, compared to the betrayal of her mother trying to kill her sister and Lex sacrificing herself. But she didn’t doubt that their deaths mattered deeply to them. After all it was the end of their lives, and according to Ted, they were all still deeply hurt by someone. She looked to Hidgens and Charlotte, silently inviting them to speak next but then Bill entered the room, looking more upset than he had been earlier.

“Emma, I need you to do me a favour.” He huffed. This was the first time he hadn’t been irritatingly polite. “My wife and daughter are here.” He said it in almost exasperation like Emma should have known that fact, she nodded and stood.

“Right, your daughter? She called me, I’ll go get Paul and I’ll go talk to her.” Emma looked at the others, as Charlotte moved to stop her. “Sorry, I know you wanted to talk about the decoration issue, but you guys have so many issues, that I need to sort Bill’s.” She shrugged and went to leave but Hidgens blocked her. He needed to buy Howard time to destroy the phone.

“No, no, no, Bill’s daughter can wait.” The older man huffed as Emma rolled her eyes, she could just walk through him, but she still felt uncomfortable with that. “We need to discuss this whole hotel business.”

“Now isn’t the time, move aside.” Bill huffed, glaring at Hidgens who stopped blocking the doorway to turn on him.

“Oh, since when is everyone against following my orders?” In his annoyance, Emma slipped past him, Hidgens rushing to stop her. “Emma, please I do not recommend you go down there, you are better off talking upstairs, I’ll tell you the full story of Howard’s death I promise you.” Emma finally turned on her heels.

“Guys, shut up, I know you’re up to something, and I’m going to find out what.” She glowered at them all, Lex cowering behind Ethan, causing Charlotte to sigh and step forward. She always felt bad when the teenagers were upset.

“Your husband managed to take a photo of me. We were trying to distract you whilst Howard destroyed the image so you wouldn’t tell him.” She admitted with a sigh as Emma stared. Before she shrugged.

“Well, there’s only one thing I can do.” She walked off downstairs, finding Paul cleaning up another broken vase in the hallway. She flicked him in the shoulder to get his attention. He looked up with a small smile.

“Hey… These keep breaking.” He shrugged as he straightened up, looking down at Emma. “Might be a breeze or something. Oh, and the woman who called you is here.” He gestured to the window where a young woman stood, holding another woman’s hand with a baby in her arms. Emma sighed and nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll go talk to her but I need to tell you something tonight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I've been very , very busy. Also Alice and Deb's daughter is called Billie-


	9. Chapter 9

It was 1984. The house had loomed in the distance, birds chirping softly and leaves falling. The house looked like something out of a horror movie, even then. In stark opposition to this was the brightly coloured rental bus driving onto the grounds. The blaring music inside could even be heard by the ghostly residents of the house, disturbing the majority of them.

Hidgens had immediately moved to the window, glaring at the bus in pure annoyance. It wasn’t enough to be awoken by the others in the early hours of the morning but now there was possibly a new tenant. Sleep schedules didn’t mean very much when you were dead apparently. But he was still the newest ghost so finding his place with them wasn’t exactly easy. Considering they weren’t soldiers and didn’t enjoy being bossed around. And now, he stood, watching the bus come in and watching the doors open. He was subconsciously tapping his foot to the music; it had certainly changed in the forty years since his time. He then noticed a man step out, in a scout uniform though he was considerably older than the boy scouts around him. There was a little girl following him too, holding his hand. She wasn’t in a uniform like the boys, but the man was with her still. Soon, the others came to the window, noticing the commotion.

“I hope he comes to stay, it’d be good to have someone actually live here again.” Melissa smiled from behind them, stepping away from the group a little before going towards the staircase. Charlotte grabbed her arm to stop her.

“Definitely not, we can’t have this house populated by people like that.” She huffed, causing the others to roll their eyes. She hadn’t gotten used how less refined the world was getting but Hidgens hadn’t exactly gotten used to it either.

“Well, I say we go investigate! Might be good to have something to do.” Melissa suggested as Charlotte let go of her. Lex shrugged and moved to her side, both her and Ethan were very quiet, Hidgens had noticed. Ted took her side too, the four of them moving downstairs and towards the door. The uniformed man just gestured for Charlotte to go ahead before they followed.

Outside was a strange contrast to the house. The man in the scout uniform was setting up targets and various games near the tree line of the property, the girl with him helping while the other kids all ate in the corner. The ghosts, dressed in the clothing of their eras, looked extremely out of place. Ted was wincing each time the kids mentioned how excited they were to “shoot”. None of them knew exactly what was going to happen, until the scouts began lining up and the man stood in front of him, the little girl had moved to the side, not taking part. He started talking, explaining the process of archery. The ghosts all listened intently except for Ted. He was either bored or upset but normally both of those meant he would start mumbling his poetry, so no one went to check on him. Ethan kept getting distracted by the sounds of animals nearby while Hidgens, Charlotte, Lex and Melissa paid close attention to what he said. He gestured for the little girl to come over, to pass him the bow and arrows she had helped him unload from the bus.

“Thank you, Alice.” He smiled at her as she went off to the side again, watching closely as he held it up. “Now, I’m going to pass this around in a minute, but you all need to listen closely. Now this is a day camp, and I don’t plan to send any of you home to your parents in a body bag- oh that’s a bad joke… Anyway.” He then began a ramble about not standing or walking in front of targets, most of the ghosts tuning out. He was too awkward for most of them. Eventually he handed the bow off to one of the boys, letting them all get used to the feel of the bow before they started having their turns at archery. And that was the fateful flaw.

Hidgens had seen it before anyone else. He had noticed a couple of the boys messing around at the back, joking around until the bow got to them. He winced as it pulled back and flinched when the arrow lodged itself in the man’s neck. He moved closer, instinctually wanting to help, Ted doing the same as Charlotte covered Melissa and the teenagers’ eyes. They moved closer as the man managed to get out a small laugh, in shock at the sudden pain through his neck. Hidgens was looking close at where the arrow had entered, trying to determine if it would indeed be fatal. He didn’t notice Ted gagging as the little girl, Alice, ran through him and to her father’s side, grabbing at his arm. It hurt the ghosts to see.

She kept asking if he was alright and he almost pushed her away, stumbling to the bus as he pulled out the keys, his eyes kept closing as he struggled to move towards it, his daughter following. He tugged at the arrow for a moment, not wanting to turn to her. She didn’t need to see him like this. He pulled again, causing all the ghosts to wince as they heard a snap. Half off the arrow was gone, but it was still right through his neck. He managed to pull himself onto the bus, still fumbling through his keys and mumbling to himself. He managed to find the one to start the vehicle, starting to try and drive off the property as the scouts watched in terror. Then there was a crash. Alice screamed as the ghosts saw smoke rising from the bus, the front having collided with a tree as the man finally collapsed at the wheel.

And that was how Bill joined the ghosts.

-~-~-

Emma sighed as she made her way across the property to where a car had parked. She hardly knew what to say as Melissa followed her. They could still walk the grounds so the Georgian ghost had been willing to join her for the undoubtedly uncomfortable task. It took Emma a moment to take in the group standing by the car, looking out at the property wistfully. The two women were holding hands, the one who was holding the baby was looking down, as Emma moved closer, she could see that the woman had been crying. There were two other people, both clearly getting on in their years, the age Bill would be if he hadn’t died forty years ago. They were also holding hands. Emma cleared her throat, immediately uncomfortable when the grieving family looked at her.

”Hey…” She sighed slightly, getting offered a kind smile from the woman she assumed was Bill’s daughter. “Welcome, sorry for your loss.” She wasn’t exactly sure on what to say but she knew she had to say something. And she had to ideally avoid mentioning the fact that she could she the ghost of their dead family member. But then the elderly man responded, giving her a sour look.

“No need to apologise now, we just come back here for the kids.” He huffed, making Emma shift under her gaze, but the woman who she didn’t think was Bill’s daughter cut in.

“We’re here for Alice, and for Bill.” She sighed, gesturing into the grounds, Emma could see a stump in her eyeline, it was a little way in front of the trees. It had never struck her as odd before. Alice took that as her chance to explain.

“That tree came down in a storm, we asked for them to not remove the stump, so we still had a place to go to mourn him.” She smiled sadly before looking back to Emma and gesturing to her family. “This is my partner Deb, my mum and step-dad… Oh, and our daughter, Billie.” She smiled as she held up the baby, before looking away mumbling something about her knowing the name was dumb but liking it anyway. Emma couldn’t help but smile, she knew Bill was sulking inside but she could enjoy this.

“Well, I’m sure your dad would like the name too.” She smiled, watching Melissa coo over the baby. But even though the moment was sweet. Emma did feel bad, Bill would never get to see this, to hear about his daughter and her kids. Emma owed it to him to find it out for him. So she asked, asked about Alice’s job, her family, her other son who had been too sick to come. And she took note of every detail until she was waving goodbye to the small family. As the group got into the car, Deb approached her.

“Thanks, for letting us come, you made Alice’s day.” She smiled. “Oh and, it must have been hard to ignore her.” She gave a side glance to Melissa before winking, stepping away, leaving Emma in shock. She just waved as they drove out, in disbelief that someone else had seen them, Melissa just shrugged in response to her stare.

“You’re not the first one to have a near death experience you know.” She giggled a little, holding her skirt up as she went back inside. Emma remained for a moment, glancing to the stump with a small smile. That was the first mystery solved. She turned, hands in her pockets as she went into the house where her husband and the ghosts were waiting.

“How’d it go?” Paul asked, dumping even more shards of a vase into a small trash can. Howard smirked a little, moving away to go look for more breakable things. Emma just chose to ignore him.

“Good, she was really nice.” She didn’t have much to say, until she noticed Bill loitering by the stairs. She chose to continue. “She’s a writer actually, her partner Deb does illustrations for children’s books. They have a daughter named after Alice’s dad actually, Billie. It was sweet.” She smiled, eyes travelling past Paul and to the man on the stares. Her smile widened when she saw the scoutmaster smile and chuckle to himself. It was a small moment of joy despite his moping all day. But then Paul got back in her eyeline.

“That’s nice, but you said you needed to tell me something?” He asked, fiddling with his hands nervously. He hated when someone said that, always worried he did something wrong. Emma just nodded and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the lounge room, telling him he was going to want to take a seat. This caused some less than positive reactions from their new roommates.

“Young lady, you made a promise to us!” Hidgens waved his swagger stick, accidentally hitting Ethan who kicked him back.

“Please don’t tell him.” Ted clasped his hands together, begging her to not say anything. But Emma tuned them out. What was most important now was telling Paul the truth, it was too much stress on her.

“So, you’ve noticed the smashing, the lights, the burning, right?” She asked, voice going quiet at the end in response to the growing shouts from the ghosts. She just had to power on after his nod. “Right, so how would you feel if I told you our house was haunted?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm updating weekly now, woo!


	10. Chapter Ten

Paul laughed awkwardly as he stared at her. “You’re… You’re joking right?” He asked as he just looked blankly at his wife. He didn’t want to take in the sentence he had just heard but he couldn’t deny the sense it made. He just had to wait for more information. Luckily, despite the shouting ghosts he was now vaguely aware of, Emma continued speaking.

“I’m not joking at all. God, I wish I was. But I’m telling the truth here.” She reached across to grab his hand with a small sigh. She knew how he’d react; she knew he’d call her crazy. But she wanted to admit it. Her husband had a right to know. “When I fell… I think I died for a minute or something, well, that’s what they told me.”

“That’s what I told you, and I am very disappointed in you for repeating it now.” Hidgens huffed, folding his arms and holding his swagger stick pointed at Emma. She just put a hand out towards him. Talking to the ghosts in front of Paul would make him send her to a mental asylum faster.

“Because I almost died… I can see them, but still you. And I know this is batshit crazy, but I wouldn’t make this up, would I? You know I hate ghost stories, Paul.” That was true. Emma complained about any little thing they watched with a ghost in it, calling it “unrealistic”. Paul would try to argue that all horror movies were unrealistic, but she would counter that people did actually go insane and stab others, people, to her knowledge then, did not live on after death. She was hilariously wrong. And Paul was inclined to believe her.

“So, you’re telling me there are… hundreds of ghosts surrounding us right now?” He asked, eyes darting around the room but angled up slightly, so he never actually looked at one of the ghosts. There were a few annoyed huffs and Emma could hear the familiar heavy steps that came with Hidgens leaving the room. She just tried to not lose her nerve.

“Would you take nine? Well, eight. One of them just left and even if he was here, one of them is only really a head.” She shrugged before standing, looking at the many frustrated spirits around them, Paul stood with her, in confused awe. He sort of circled on the spot, eyes darting around like he could see something. Even though Emma knew he couldn’t. His eyes suddenly met hers, he looked terrified.

“This is insane… Like actually crazy, I thought we moved here because everywhere else was too terrifying to live in.” He was tense, beginning to pace slightly. The ghosts were carefully dodging so he didn’t walk through any of them. They were more worried than Emma was. She knew some were mad about her revealing them. Some were hurt. She could see that even Ethan was upset with her. Melissa wasn’t, of course, but Melissa seemed to be the only one incapable of hating her.

“Look, I just want you to trust me. It makes sense, right?” Emma asked, grabbing Paul’s arm to stop his movements. “Ethan makes the lights flicker, Howard’s been pushing the vases… He seems to like making things difficult for us.” She shot the politician a glare. He just shrugged and smirked at her, relaxing back. He also seemed unbothered by this. She glanced back to Paul, who had removed his arm from her grip, pulling out his phone from his pocket. Emma had a small moment of distress before she saw him flicking through his camera roll and producing a picture of their second bedroom.

“Who’s this?” Paul asked, almost shoving his phone in Emma’s face. It took Emma a moment to zero in on what was strange about the photo. Then she noticed the almost transparent form at the back. It was strange to her, not at all how she saw the ghosts. For her they were normal people, not floating, not transparent. But in the photo, Charlotte’s feet were barely visible as her face was just staring straight ahead. It was terrifying, even as someone who had seen the ghosts normally. No wonder Paul was shaken up.

“Charlotte.” She sighed, letting go of where she was holding the bottom of the phone, letting Paul take it back. “She’s the ghost of my great aunt or something.” She rolled her eyes as the woman in question started yelling. But Emma was used to it at this point. She had managed to become accustomed to most of their strange behaviours.

“You’re seriously telling the truth?” Paul looked at her, eyes widened. He was on edge but Emma could see him slowly beginning to understand. He was a mix of amazed and confused. But he couldn’t doubt something his wife was so sure on, could he?

“I am, I promise you. I know I hit my head but… They’re not in here, I promise.” She tapped her head, her husband finally nodded. She sighed in relief. “Okay, now, they probably won’t be the friendliest for a bit, most of them are mad at me now. But I’ll point them out to you when I can see them, okay?”

“Okay.”

-~-~-

“This was really the last straw. I am happy to put up with them living here, I even began to enjoy her company, but revealing our existence without our permission was beyond disrespectful.” Hidgens growled in his usual aggressive tone. He was gesturing with his stick as if he had a board behind him although their inability to touch objects, they didn’t die with didn’t allow for that. Howard was lucky to be the exception.

“It isn’t so bad, I don’t think.” Melissa shrugged as she folded her hands in her lap on the couch. “We’re lucky he believed her, and he’s just as nice as she is.” There were a few murmurs of agreement, causing Hidgens to huff. He was used to the others listening to him.

“I’m happy as long as long as he’s the only person she tells.” Ted shrugged, once again sat on the arm of the couch. “He may need to know about being a ghost if an accident were to happen.”

“What? You want him haunting here with us?” Howard teased from his seat across the room. “Why are you so insistent on killing the husband, anyway?” That was perhaps what he was best at, he pushed Ted’s buttons until the two fought and it inevitably spilled out into a month-long argument. Hidgens wasn’t letting then get side-tracked now.

“It doesn’t matter if we kill her husband or not. Now that they both know we’re here; we can finally sit down and order them out. Get rid of them both, once and for all.” He smiled a little to himself, until there was a loud rebuttal. He stepped back slightly as Melissa rose to her feet.

“No! We shouldn’t have to kick them out to live peacefully. This is their house too.” It was rare for her to be so loud about something, normally she and Bill were the agreeable ones but the whole world was flipped on its head today. “I don’t know why you think you can push us all around.”

“Well, it was our house first!” Charlotte huffed, standing up to join Hidgens on his side of the room. Naturally the more refined ghosts took the same side. But her comment sparked another from Ethan.

“Mine before yours, I say stay.” He huffed, standing beside Melissa. The two pairs stared at each other as the rest of the ghosts watched uncomfortably. Soon, Lex, Howard and Ted moved to stand with Melissa and Ethan, all three of them uneasy with the fight but confident in their position.

“They were annoying at first, but they don’t seem that bad.” Lex shrugged.

“Well, she’s certainly not. Jury’s still out on the husband.” Ted huffed as Lex kicked his shin. Howard took that as his opportunity to speak for the group.

“Frankly, I don’t think any of us, want you two bossing us around any longer.” The politician folded his arms. The others nodded softly as the pair stared angrily at them. Bill stood, trying to diffuse the tension, although it was useless.

“Guys, please, we don’t need to pick sides.” He stepped between them before Hidgens took a few angry steps forward, glaring at the group. He pointed his stick in the groups direction.

“You’ll regret this. This house will be chaos without us. But if you don’t want our help then fine, let them turn this place into a hotel. Good luck to you. Come along Charlotte.” He turned and stormed out.

John sighed from the couch. “Well, this’ll be interesting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, posting? rare

**Author's Note:**

> The character counterparts for anyone who has seen ghosts are quite obviously -  
> Paul: Mike  
> Emma: Allison  
> Ted: Thomas  
> Hidgens: Captain  
> Bill: Pat  
> Charlotte: Fanny  
> Howard: Julian  
> Ethan: Robin  
> Lex: Mary  
> John: Humphrey  
> Melissa: Kitty


End file.
